Lifter or holder.



PATENTED FEB. 5, 1907.

P. W. PEW." LIFTER 0R HOLDER. APPLIGATION FILED MAY 14, 190e.

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FREDERICK W. PEW, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

LIFTER on HOLDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 5,'1907.

Application led May 14,1906. Serial No. 316,611.

To all wtmn t may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK W. FEW, a citizen of the United States, residing at Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented a new and useful 1inprovejnent in Lifters or Holders, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a lifter or holder whereby stove-lids and varions kinds of kitchen utensils may be held and manipulated.

, The object of this invention is to provide a lifter or holder of this character which is siinple and durable in construction, convenient and efficient in use, and. capable of being applied to articles varying in size and shape.

ln the accompanying drawings, Figure l represents a side elevation of iny iin proved lift-er or holder, showing the sanze applied to a pan or dish. Fig. 2 is a detached top plan view thereof, showing the saine applied to the knob or button of a stove-door. Fig. 3 is a fragmentary inverted view showing the saire applied to the knob of a teapot-cover or similar article. 4 is a side elevation corresponding to Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a crosssection, on an enlarged scale, in line 5 5, Fig. l.

Siirilar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views.

My iin-proved lifter or holder consists generally of two levers A B, which are pivotally connected between the front and rear ends thereof in the manner of a vpair of tongs. One of these levers, preferably A, is constructed in the forni of an ordinary stove-lid lifter, the front arin c of which is provided at its front end with a finger, lip, or jaw c, which is adapted to enter the undercut opening or socket of the stove-lid for connecting the saine therewith, while its rear arm a is provided with a surrounding coil d, of wire, forming a handle therefor. The other lever B is constructed to forni a niouth E, which opens laterally inward toward the jaw of the other lever, so as to be capable of engaging over the edge and with the inner and outer sides of the wall of a dish, pan, or cup, and also to forni a inonth G, which opens forwardly in the direction of the length of said lever and is adapted to receive the contracted neck of the knob or button g of a tea-pot cover or sinilar article. This last-n entioned lever B, which for convenience will be referred to hereinafter as the upper lever to distinguish it from the other or lower lever A, may be constructed by casting, stamping, or bending the saine into the required shape of metal; but the saine, as shown in the drawings, is preferably constructed of wire, as follows: A single piece of wire is iirst folded once upon itself, forniing a loop-shaped handle h at its rear end, the side bars of which are arranged lengthwise adjacent to opposite sides of the handle of the lower lever, but free to swing or inove transversely relatively, thereto. ln front of the pivotal connection between the upper and lower levers the two side bars of the upper lever are twisted together to forni a connection between these bars, as shown at From this point the two bars of the upper lever divergeforwardly, as shown at y', forming the rear or inner side of the nionth G, which receives the neck of the knob of a teapot-cover. At the front ends of these diverging portions of the side bars each one of thein is bent into the forni of Aa loop 7c, which projects inwardly at right angles thereto and forirs one of the inner or rear jaws of the inwardly-opening inouth E,

which receives the upper 'edge of the pan ordish. From the outer ends of the loopsc the longitudinal bars of the upper lever converge inwardly over the diverging portions j and forni the front sides m of the inouth G, which receives the neck of a teapot-cover knob. At the inner en'd of the forwardlyconverging portions m of the bars the saine are separated, so as to f'orin an inlet opening or throat to permit the passage of the neck of the teapot-cover knob into the mouth G. Froin the inner ends of these forwardly-converging portions ofthe side bars the saine are again bent, so as to forni forwardly-diverging portions n, which operate as guides for directing the neck of the teapot-cover knob into the inouth G. .At the front ends of the guide portions An, the side bars are bent laterally inward at right angles to the general direction of the bars and terminate substantially in line with the inner ends of the loops le. These inwardly-projecting end portions of the side bars constitute the outer or front jaws o of the inoutli E, and the forwardlyconverging portions m m and forwardly-diverging portions '1t of the side bars forni the top of the nouth-E, which receives the upper edge of the pan, dish, cup, or other article to be held.

In attaching the lifter or holder to a pan 11o IOO or similar article the jaw of the lower member is engaged underneath its bottom f while the inwardly-opening mouth E of the upper lever is passed over the side wall of the dish, so that the top of the mouth bears against the upper edge of this wall and the inner and outer pairs of parallel jaws k 0 bear against the inner and outer sides of said wall, as shown in Fig. l. Upon pressing together the handles of the two levers while the parts are inthis position the lifter or holder will grip the dish reliably and iirmly and permit of manipulating the same as freely as can be done with a handle permanently attached to the dish. l

The front and rear jaws lc o of the mouth E form hooks which may be engaged with the upper edges of cooking-dishes for conveniently shifting them from one part of the stove to another without danger of being burnt. By opening the levers wide it is possible to engage the front and rear jaws o 7c of the upper lever with the button or knob p of a stove-door, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2, to permit of opening and closing the same without burning the hands. The jaw of the lower lever may be used in like manner independently of the upper lever in the ordinary way for lifting stove-lids and other articles suitably constructed to receive the jaw of this lever. Vhen the forwardly-opening mouth G of the lifter or holder is applied to a teapot-cover knob, the enlarged part of the button or knob overhangs the forwardlydiverging parts j j and forwardly-converging parts m of this mouth, as shown in Fig. 3, permitting this cover to be safely removed from a hot teapot or applied thereto.

Inasmuch as those portions of the side bars forming the handle of the upper lever are capable of swinging transversely clear of opposite sides of theA handle of the lower lever, it is possible to' press these handles together a sufficient extent to apply a firm pressure against the article which is to be gripped, and also permits of bringing the jaws of the two levers sufliciently close together to enable the same to grasp the smallest dishes commonly used.

Inasmuch as the stove-lid-lifting jaw also cooperates with the jaws of the upper lever for grasping dishes, all of the gripping-jaws are arranged at the one end of the levers, permitting the opposite ends of these levers to be used solely as handles which remain cool constantly, thereby avoiding the danger of burning the hands, which would be liable to occur if the stove-lid-lifting jaw and dish.- lifting jaws were arranged at opposite ends ofthe levers and necessitated reversing the same when it is desired to use them for different purposes.

Various means may be employed for pivotally connecting the two levers of the lifter or holder, the means for this purpose shown in the drawings as an example being preferred and constructed as follows: g g represent two pivot-eyes formed on the central portions of the side bars of the upper lever by looping each of these bars. R represents a coupling-plate arranged on top of the lower lever and provided centrally on opposite sides with pintles or pivot-lugs r, which project laterally into the pivot-eyes of the upper lever. On opposite sides of each pintle the coupling-plate is provided with a pair of lugs s s, the lugs on opposite sides of the plate straddling the lower lever and having their lower ends constructed in the form of inwardly-projecting hooks t t, which engage underneath the lower lever. The plate R extends across the top of the lower lever, while the lugs S s are arranged on opposite sides thereof and have their lower ends bent inwardly against the under side of said lever. Such a construction permits of placing the lifter on the market completely assembled and ready for use. In order to enable the upper lever to be placed on the market by itself and enable the purchaser to conveniently apply the same to a stove-lifter which is already at hand, the lugs s s may be left straight, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 5,

.and then bent by the purchaser around the lid-lifter, or these lugs may be bent in the factory into hook shape for engagement with the under side of an ordinary stove-lid lifter, and these parts may be held in their assembled position by means of a clamping-screw u, working in a threaded opening in the coupling-plate and bearing against the upper side of the stove-lid lifter.

The coupling-plate, together with its pintles and hooks, can be stamped and bent up out of a single piece of sheet metal.

My improved lifter or holder is very simple in construction, permitting the same to be produced at low cost, and owing to the variety of uses to which it can be put forms a vely convenient and desirable household artic e.

I claim as my inventionl. A lifter or holder having a lever provided on its front arm with a mouth 'which opens laterally and the sides or jaws of which are parallel, substantially as set forth.

2. A lifter or holder having a lever provided on its front arm with a parallel-sided mouth which opens laterally and another mouth which opens forwardly in the direction of the length of the lever, substantially as set forth.

3. A lifter or holder having a lever containing a longitudinal wire bar which is provided with a laterally-bent front end and in rear of said front end with a laterally-proj ecting loop, substantially as set forth.

4. A lifter or holder having a lever which consists of two longitudinal wire bars each of which is provided with a laterally-bent front TOO IIO

end and in rear of said front end with a laterally projecting loop, substantially as set forth.

5. A lifter or holder having a lever, which consists of two longitudinal wire bars having forwardly-diverging portions forming the inner or rear side of a mouth and two portions converging forwardly from the front ends of said diverging portions and forming the outer or the front side of said inouth, substantially as set forth.

6. A lifter or holder having a lever which consists of two longitudinal wire bars having forwardly-divcrging portions forming the inner or rear side of a niouth, two portions converging forwardly from the front ends of said diverging portions and forming the outer or front side of said inouth, and two portions diverging forwardly from the front ends of said converging portions, substantially as set forth.

7. A lifter or holder comprising two pivotally-connected levers, one of said levers consisting of two longitudinal wire bars which are twisted together in front of the pivotal connection between said levers and have their front ends constructed to forni jaws, substal'itially as set forth.

8. A lifter or holder having a lever consisting of two longitudinal bars which are provided with pivot-loops, twisted portions connecting the bars in front of the pivotloops, forwardly diverging portions con.- nected with the twisted portions, laterallyprojecting loops connecting with the front ends of the forwardly-diverging portions, forwardly converging portions connecting with said last-1nentioned loops, forwardlydiverging portions connecting with said forwardly-converging portions, and laterally-1 projecting ends connecting with said lastmentioned forwardly-diverging portions, substantially as set forth.

9. A lifter or holder having two levers one of which is provided with Ypivot-eyes, and a coupling consisting of a plate arranged above the other lever and having hooks adapted to engage underneath the lastnnentioned lever and pivot-pins which are received in said eyes, substantially as set forth.

l0. A lifter or holder having two levers one of which is provided with pivot-eyes, .a coupling consisting of a plate arranged above the other lever and having hooks adapted to engage underneath of the last-mentioned le ver and pivot-pins which are received in said eyes, and a clamping-screw arrangedpon said plate and bearing against the upper side of said last-mentioned lever, substantially as set forth.

l1. A lifter or holder having two levers one of which is 'provided with "pivot-eyes, a coupling consisting of a top plate, pivot-lugs projecting laterally from the plate in the saine plane, and hooks arranged on opposite sides of each pivot-lug and projecting freni the plate at right angles thereto, said plate being arranged above the other lever and said hooks engaging underneath the same and said 'pivot-lugs engaging with said pivoteyes, and a clamping-screw arranged in said plate and engaging with the top of said lastinentioned lever, substantially as set forth.

W'itness iny hand this 9th day of May, 1906.

FREDERICK W. FEW.

TWitnesses THEO. L. Pori), RUTH TARBELL. 

